European Parliament lawmakers have called for a committee to investigate rights abuses by European Union governments using powerful spyware produced by Israel's NSO Group.
Meanwhile, the Polish Senate formally approved the formation of a committee to investigate evidence that three critics of the country's right-wing government were hacked with the spyware. Sen. Marcin Bosacki, who will lead the inquiry, said the step was needed "due to the deepest concern for our democracy and the future of the Polish state."

The Gaza Strip has few jobs, little electricity and almost no natural resources. But after four bruising wars with Israel in just over a decade, it has lots of rubble.
Local businesses are now finding ways to cash in on the chunks of smashed concrete, bricks and debris left behind by years of conflict. In a territory suffering from a chronic shortage of construction materials, a bustling recycling industry has sprouted up, providing income to a lucky few but raising concerns that the refurbished rubble is substandard and unsafe.

Israel has said that it had broken up an Iranian spy ring that recruited Israeli women via social media. The women agreed to photograph sensitive sites, gather intelligence and in at least two cases, to encourage their sons to join Israeli military intelligence.
Israel views Iran as its greatest threat, and the two nations have been waging a shadow war for years. Israel has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is seeking such weapons and has vowed a harsh response to any aggression.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed by friendly fire overnight while on a security patrol near a military base in the Jordan Valley, the military said early Thursday.
It said they were misidentified and mistakenly killed by fellow soldiers.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has urged rival factions in Sudan to engage in talks to move forward in their transition to democracy after a coup toppled the civilian-led government.
The Oct. 25 military takeover has upended Sudan's plans to move to democracy after three decades of repression and international sanctions under autocrat Omar al-Bashir. A popular uprising forced the military's overthrow of al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

An 80-year-old Palestinian was found dead in a village in the occupied West Bank early Wednesday, his body still handcuffed after an Israeli arrest raid, its mayor said.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment when contacted by AFP.

Israel's fragile governing coalition faced a crisis on Wednesday after Bedouins staged protests against tree-planting by nationalists on disputed land in the Negev desert.
Some protesters on Tuesday evening hurled stones at vehicles on a highway near Beersheba, blocked the railway line and torched a vehicle. Police said two officers were injured in the violence and local media reported at least 18 people arrested.

Victims of torture in Syria and human rights activists say they hope the upcoming verdict in a landmark trial will be a first step toward justice for countless Syrians who suffered abuse at the hands of President Bashar Assad's government in the country's long-running conflict.
A court in the German city of Koblenz is scheduled to deliver its ruling Thursday in the trial of Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian secret police officer who is accused of crimes against humanity for overseeing the abuse of detainees at a jail near Damascus a decade ago.

Egypt's leader has criticized Europe's handling of the migration crisis and its refusal to receive refugees arriving at its borders, saying his own country has taken in millions of people who left their home countries.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt hosts at least 6 million people who fled conflict and poverty at home. He said his government, unlike some other countries, doesn't hold migrants in refugee camps but allows them to live freely in the community.

At least two people died and eight were still missing Tuesday after a small truck they were riding in slid off a ferry and plunged into the Nile River, said authorities in Egypt.
The accident happened just outside of Cairo on Monday, in the town of Monshat el-Kanater in Giza province, the office of the public prosecutor said in a statement.
